Nights of Zootopia
by Golden-Crowned Flying Fox
Summary: It's been a week since the largest case of Zootopia was solved. Something is wrong. Paths to Nocturnal District has been blocked, none can enter. Two Nocturnal ZPD officers has been depatched to investigate this weird case.
1. The night shift

„The night shift"

A sound of morning alarm echoed through small house in the Rainforest district of Zootopia. However, it was not morning, but late afternoon. The alarm rang so late because the animal that set it up didn't need to be up in the day.

The animal that owned this small house and set up this alarm was Naomi, young female jaguar, who worked at Zootopia ZPD. She was working as a cop at night, so she was getting up in late afternoon, and since her species was more nocturnal than day active, she liked it. However, not even Naomi liked getting up, pretty much like every mammal going to work.

Naomi yawned, sprawling on the confortable, soft, large bed. She got up, definitely awake, and went to the bathroom, quickly brushing her teeth and getting a shower. After that, she went to the closet and put up a police uniform. When she looked at the clock, it was almost the time for her to go, so she quickly looked outside if it was raining, and luckely, it was not, which was surprising, considering the weather in the rainforest distict. She took advantage of the good weather and quickly walked outside her small house, locking the door behind her.

When she walked on the street, she met many smiles and greetings of other residents of her neighborhood. She crossed the street and walked into a subway station on the Moss street. The train arrived soon, and about twenty minutes later it arrived in Savanna Central.

By that time, sun was already setting, and by the time Naomi walked into Zootopia's Police deppartment, it was already under the horizon. In the doors of ZPD, she walked into small rabbit officer, Judy Hopps, and a fox policeman, Nick Wilde. Those two solved one of the biggest cases the ZPD ever investigated, and that happened one week ago. She was very affraid in the time those savage predators were appearing, fearing that she might become one of them, and she might've lost her job too, thanks to that rabbit's „It's in their DNA" speech. Naomi didn't like that bunny very well, but at the end, everything ended nicely.

At the reception wasn't Clawhouser, his shift already ended. Instead, a black panther named Edward sat in the receptionist's chair. „Hey Naomi!" he waved at her as soon as he saw her. „Hi Edward!" she replied with a smile. Edward was so nice to her, always. She could almost swear that he liked her more than just a friend or a colleague. „You should hurry, Bogo has some big cases for us, and you know how he doesn't like staying past his work time." Edward winked at Naomi. She thanked him and hurried up to the meeting toom.

Almost everyone was already there, and also, almost everyone were big cats. Some day shift policemen joked that nightshift is more like „Cat shift", since almost all nightshift officers were big cats, due to their naturally nocturnal sences. As soon as she sat down in her chair, right in the front, doors on the right opened and a big water buffalo, chief Bogo entered the room. There was silence, no banging on the tables or loud roaring like the dayshift meetings went. The nightshift cat officers just sat there, waiting for chief Bogo to distribute cases.

„Fine, I'm going to make this quick," started chief Bogo, opening files on his desk. „there has been reported a thief going around in Sahara Square, officers Nighteye and Clawmark, you will patroll the streets. Officers Felines and Pardua," Naomi alerted, that was her and one of her colleagues, Kyra, a young female Javan leopard. To be honest, it was very rare to see a javan leopard in Zootopia, they lived in west Pursific ocean on the islands, but not many moved to and lived in Zootopia, Naomi was lucky to even see one of those large felines in her life, and now it seemed they got a case together. To be honest, she never talked so much with Kyra, and this was a good oportunity to get to know something about her, possibly even becoming close friends. Chief Bogo breathed in, preparing to give the case to them. „there has been a problem in our deppartment in the Nocturnal district. Chief Darkwing hasn't reported anything for a week, maybe something happened. Investigate it." Naomi stood up, together with Kyra. They walked to the chief and silently took the case file. Nocturnal district? She's never been in there, but she knew that Kyra did. No wonder Bogo left this case for the „Cat shift" officers, she didn't think that an a elephant or a wolf would've done a good job working in the Nocturnal district, where it was almost a complete dark, and where most of the nocturnal mammals lived, mainly bats, opposums, lemurs and nocturnal felines.

She was excited, this felt more like an adventure than just a regular, boring police case.


	2. Night adventure

„Night adventure"

Naomi sat into a chair in her small office, with Kyra, jaguar that was assigned to help her with this case, leaning over the back of her chair, looking into small case file with few papers in it, that was put on the desk by Naomi. „So, let's see..." said Naomi to herself, opening the small case file. Kyra was quietly looking through the papers. And there weren't a lot of them.

There was only info about chief of Nocturnal district's police, chief Darkwing. He was middle-aged Black Flying fox, with black wings and fur, and dark orange eyes. He was chief of police in the underground district for a few years now, and sent reports to chief Bogo almost every day. But for last week, nothing was sent, and Naomi found out from the files, that almost no mammal entered or left Nocturnal district for.. almost a week.

„Let's get going." encouraged Kyra and walked to the door. „Wait! We know almost nothing!"

„Yes, that's exactly why we should go, right now. I don't see a reason why stay here and waste time. Come on." she opened the door and walked out, she didn't turn off the light, because it was never turned on. Almost all lights were turned off at the night, because the night officers liked it way better, with no flashy lights hurting their sensitive eyes. The only light coming into the room was from outside.

Naomi didn't have a choice, she closed the case and quickly ran to Kyra. „What do you think happened?"

„How should I know? Maybe Darkwing just forgot, or fell ill. We will have to go to the Nocturnal district's police department to find out. Let's get onto the subway, there's a train on Savanna Central station that will také us directly to Nocturnal district's centre." Naomi nodded, following the jaguar.

When they arrived on the Savanna Central train station, and went to rail that went to the Nocturnal district, no train arrived. They waited for almost half an hour, before asking a doe what happened. She got a bit scared when a police officer told her „I'm sorry," but got quickly confortable again after Naomi finished her question. „why there's no train going to the Nocturnal district?"

„Oh, you don't know?" she looked a bit surprised. „It was closed, about a week ago, no one really knowing why. I believe the only way to get to Nocturnal district is through main entrance on Troop Street in Downtown, although I don't know why anyone would want to go down there." Naomi smiled and thanked, looking back at Kyra after that doe left. „So?"

„I guess we wasted about two hours, let's get going."

„Is.. This it?" Naomi was looking at the entrance to Nocturnal district. It was a large gate, leading to a dark alley with staircase at the end. It was barricated with metal bars, like few abandoned subway station entrances. There was conveniently a hole in the bars, just big enough for two big cats to fit through. When Kyra and Naomi squeezed through, Naomi asked why would entrance to another district be barricated. Kyra just shook her head.

They were in a dark alley way with stairs at it's end, those lead deep down under the city. They went down, a cold wind blowing in their faces, indicating that they were close to the entrance to Nocturnal District. Stairs lead about a hundred meters down into the ground, and once they finally reached the bottom of the stairs, both Kyra and Naomi were tired. „So that's why no one uses this route.." said Naomi, breathing heavily. But it was worth it, the view was absolutely incredible.

In front of them it was- the Nocturnal District. Absolutely humongous cave with a city built in it. The ceiling was lit up with glowing fungus, which created a dark and relaxing light source for the district. From the ceiling were growing huge stalactites, some of which were inhabited. They had small houses built around them, with entrances for bats to land in.

The city below was built around a huge body of water, called „the Night lake", it provided individual water source for the district, if the supplies of water from the Rainforest district were cut, which now they were.

The city was build in a very old medieval-like style, with wood, small houses everywhere. Unlike Downtown, the Nocturnal district was built in a more nostalgic-like theme. There were no lights in the houses, why would they be? In the streets there were only few streetlights with glowing fungus lighting up the roads for non-nocturnal animals.

One thing that Naomi quickly realized, just after she finished being so amazed by the district was, that there was almost no movement. There were no bats flying around, no boats on the lake, no cars on the road. Although, she wasn't very surprised by the missing cars, considering almost no-one owned a car in the Nocturnal district.

„Will you finally come down, or you'll stare at the city for the rest of the night?" Kyra finally interrupted Naomi from her observations, reminding her that they were on a mission.

„Oh, yeah, absolutely." Naomi quickly followed her partner, walking down another set of stairs, which now felt almost end-less. They had to walk down another hundred meters or so to the bottom of the huge cavern and then walk up to the city. Naomi quickly realized that this was a case for more than just one night. And to be honest, it didn't really matter for her, she really wanted to spend some time with Kyra and she always wanted to visit Nocturnal district, maybe even meet chief Darkwing. She added to her speed, almost running down the stairs in excitement.

„Nocturnal district, hand us your secrets!"


	3. The Illness

„The Illness"

Naomi and Kyra were walking alongside a road in the Nocturnal District. At the side of the road was a series of streetlamps with glowing fungus in them, which was creating a subtle and calm shine. Naomi liked this lighting the best, because her species was for the most part nocturnal, but not entirely.

„So, where's the police station?" Kyra was walking in front of Naomi, and it seemed like she knew where to go. „Dark st. 23, that's the adress. It should be behind that corner." she pointed in front of her at a digression to the left about 200 meters away.

What Naomi noticed first was how silent the Nocturnal District was. There could be heard almost nothing. It almost seemed like the whole district is abandoned. Naomi even asked Kyra if this was normal, she shook her head in disagree. It was quite strange, they needed to get some answers as soon as possible.

About ten minutes later they arrived that the Nocturnal District Police Station. It was much smaller building than the official ZPD, and it was made mostly out of wood in an old medieval-like style like all other buildings in the district. The entrance into the building was made out of large double doors, which didn't seem locked. Kyra and Naomi decided to go in. Suddenly though, they heard something in the air above them. They quickly turned, in the dark they couldn't see much, just a large shadow flying above them. It was coming closer. „Bat." Naomi instantly thought. It was a bat, a giant bat, and it was coming quickly towards them. The bat softly landed about ten meters in front of them, revealing his appearence. He was a Mauritian Flying Fox, with wingspan of about 1,5 meters and height of about half a meter. He was standing on his hind legs, with his wings leaning his body. The fruit bat was dressed in a black shirt and shorts. The shirt had no sleeves, of course, and the shorts were for the most part, pretty short.

The bat was looking at them with his large, dark eyes, most likely wondering what are the two felines doing in the Nocturnal District. „You're looking for answers, right? You're not going to find someone to answer them in there." the bat pointed with his nose on the police station, because his hands were occupied with supporting his body. „Who are you?" asked Naomi, with a gentle and friendly voice. „Officer Longwing, Zootopia's Nocturnal District Police Department. Junior officer. Well, at least I was."

„You're a police officer? What happened? Where is chief Darkwing? Why the whole district looks like it's abandoned?" Naomi threw her questions at the young fruit bat that he patiently watched here with his large eyes, waiting for her to finish all her questions. „I will answer all the questions, but not here, it's not safe enough. Go into the police station, I'll show you the right room."

The duo patiently followed much smaller mammal into the abandoned building, watching how he struggled walking such a long distance, even on all four extremities. The Police station was very small, much, much smaller than the official ZPD in Downtown, the main room with reception was also small, and from it were leading just few corridors into meeting rooms and offices. Into such office, officer Longwing went into and told Kyra to close the door.

Immediately, both Naomi and Kyra knew that this was a bat's office, there was no seat behind the main table, just a bar in the ceiling, which Longwing quickly hopped onto, holding with his legs, hanging upside down. „Your office?" The fruit bat was making himself comfortable, wrapping his body in his large wings like in a warm, cosy blanket. „No, that would be too obvious."

One more thing Naomi realised was that there was no window, so literally no one could see them. „So, will you answer my questions?" Both felines sat in two chairs on the opposite side of the table. „Of course... Yes, No one knows, on the graveyard, it mostly is." Naomi was confused, did that bat just remember her questions the whole time? She did not, so she asked him to answer in full sentences.

„Yes, I am a police officer. I graduated the Zootopia Police Academy about a year ago and got my badge. I got to serve in the Zootopia's Police and serve under the leadership of chief Darkwing. What happened? Well, some claim it was a sickness, we thought it is an attack. Why does the whole district look like it's abandoned? Some parts of it are actually abandoned. I'll explain, why. Where is chief Darkwing? Sadly, we burried him four days ago in the graveyard behind the city." Both felines were shocked by what they just heard. So many bad things happened and this bat is just hanging from the ceiling, completely calm! How can he stay so calm! „How.. How can you stay so calm?!" Naomi almost freaked out.

„Please, don't make such loud noises. I stay calm because that's my nature, I don't usually freak out. So now, I see you're confused, I'll start from the beginning.

It began about twelve days ago, when first mammals started to get sick. Nocturnal district's hospital got really, really busy. First, mammals would start to be very tired, then would get aggressive and attack others. After that, many of them were depressed, very, very depressed. We got reports in total of about two hundred suicides in last week. Another hundred died in the hospital out of depression. We had no idea what it was. The chairman of Nocturnal District decided that it was an illness, and so he quarantined the whole district.

Our Police station would get crowded with mad mammals, only for them to be transported into hospital a day later. We tried as much as we could to know what was causing this 'Illness'. We found many similarities with the Nighthowler effect of flowers with the same name. However, we, nor the doctors in the hospital couldn't find any signs of nighthowlers on the ill mammals. Our theory was that it was another sabotage, like that Nighthowlers case, that was solved few days prior, thanks to officer Judy Hopps and that fox." Naomi sneered when imagening those two, she didn't like that always-optimistic bunny, nor she liked that sly, sarcastic fox. Longwing was continuing, however, so she had to listen carefuly.

„Soon, the illness striked again, more devastatingly than before. We had to arrest most of our own officers, and even the doctors that helped to stabilize the ill mammals just few days prior. There were just seven of us left at the police station, and we didn't know what to do. Chief Darkwing was organising us to that moment, but in a while, he became aggressive to us, even striking a lemur officer. We tried to get him into the hospital, but he flew off. We saw him the next day, he was standing on an edge of one of the bat houses, up, near the ceiling of the cavern. I can see his body leaping over the edge and falling deep down into the streets. If he just stretched his wings, he could've lived, but he didn't, and his body fell right in the middle of a street. We burried him the next day, it was a small and sad funeral, no ceremony, because no one had time nor mood to do that. We needed to know what is happening, and there was now just five of us left. Few day passed by and we knew nothing more than before, and our numbers grew even thinner. It was just me and two lemur officers. One of them fell ill, and he had enough sense to let us close him into the station's prison. The next day however, we found him dead, probably killed himself by something in the cell. Me and the other officer were decimated, the district was now completely still and quiet. That 'illness' caused mammals to go crazy, super-aggressive to the point that even herbivorous mammals attacked others. No chaos broke out though, the district just fell quiet.

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw you two just casually walking on the street, I had to get you out of there. I bet dozens of eyes watched you while you were walking towards this station. I can even bet that there are eyes watching this building right now. That's why we will have to get out of here as quietly as possible."

„Wait, and how do we make sure that us three don't get infected by that disease?"

„I survived long enough because I didn't touch any of the infected mammals. I still don't believe that the illness is of natural origin, though."

„So, you think someone made this illness, like the Nighthowler savage disease?" The fruit bat nodded. „It might be possible, after all, these two incidents happened just few days apart. It might be that someone created this illness, and made sure that it will spread out quickly and decimate the population of the district. As you can probably tell, it worked perfectly. One eight of the population commited suicide, two other eights vanished and the rest got ill and then.. Savage."

„So, what's the plan?" Kyra finally said something, the bat looked at her. „We should inform the main ZPD and Zootopia's main hospital. We should give them a sample of the illness, I think the body of my colleague will be enough. We will take it and bring it to the front gate from which you came into the district. We must be careful though, none can be infected, we will take a trip into Nocturnal District's hospital and borrow few quarantine suits."

„Wait, wait, hold on!" Longwing, confused, looked at Naomi. „You still have the body of your colleague in the prison?" The fruit bat nodded. „WHY?! That's.. Disgusting! You should've burried him!"

„A, there was no time for that, B, we didn't want to get infected. I believe he would want us to use his body to solve this „biggest case the Zootopia has ever seen", huh?" Naomi knew what the young officer was hinting to.

„Let's get to work, shall we?"


End file.
